Philippine E-Journals

The Daimon in the Euthydemus

Carl Levenson

Discipline: Philosophy

 

Abstract:

Socrates’ daimonion, that numinous “presence” restraining him from error, is prominently featured in Plato’s Apology and plays an important role in several other dialogues.

Socrates speaks of it often. It was, he reports, a constant feature of his life. It may also have caused his death because, as we read in the Euthyphro, he talked about the daimon so often that he aroused suspicion and resentment—and was finally indicted for impiety (Euthyphro, 1.b). It may seem a bit scandalous that the patron saint of reason in the western tradition was a daimon-haunted personality. And many commentators tend to deemphasize the daimon, or at least not to fully investigate its role in Plato’s writing. But something essential is missed in this way. Accordingly, this essay focuses on the daimon in the Euthydemus, which is a macabre mystical comedy. Here we see that, while the daimon is a power that sets limits, it willingly associates itself with a mysticism of the limitless (the Corybantic mania) and we see how this association bears fruit in Plato’s other dialogues—especially in the notion of the Good.